Portland police removed Occupy Portland protesters from Terry Schrunk Plaza about 4 a.m. today, taking down tents and arresting 10 protesters in what was ultimately a tense but non-violent raid.

Nine of those arrested have been released. One had an outstanding warrant and remains in police custody.

Federal officials said the police raid came after the campers were asked multiple times to leave the plaza.

Marshall Kay, 35, who's been camping with Occupy Portland for two and a half weeks, said he and his friend, Ian Lavallee, 27 were walking around the main encampment near the Justice Center about 4 a.m. and saw a large group of officers donning riot gear.

Dozens of officers wearing helmets and holding nightsticks lined three sides of the park, keeping demonstrators out while the encampment was dismantled. Groups of Occupy Portland campers stood nearby, taunting officers and screaming, "The whole world is watching," and "The tents will go back."

Lt. Robert King, a Portland police spokesman, said the event was a largely peaceful one. King said police chose the early hour for the raid so people would be sleeping and the streets would be relatively empty of cars.

“It definitely got a little tense, maybe heated.” King said. “Tensions didn’t rise to the point where we used any kind of force.

"I don't feel that most of the people with Occupy Portland want to have a confrontation with police," King said.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams tweeted early Tuesday: "I wanted to make sure it was done peacefully: I approved the feds' request for assistance."

An Occupy Portland resident who identified himself as Neg said that the newer encampment at Terry Schrunk Plaza was a distraction from their mission. He said the city has given them the opportunity to camp at the two parks.

"This was not necessary," he said. "This was a distraction for everyone. This was meaningless."

Another Occupy Portland protester, Jason Sayer, 40, of Portland, said that this morning's pre-dawn raid, just as the Jamison Square raid on Sunday night, "was a colossal waste of resources." He said police didn't need to mobilize a military-like force to break up a small encampment.

"Obama would talk poorly of Syria and Egypt if this happened there," he said.

The situation calmed down by 5:30 a.m.

A police commander told some of the protesters that the park would reopen today and that police would release property to demonstrators. He told one protester: “We just don’t want camping overnight."

Mike Landers-Marlow, 22, who has been here since Day 4, said Occupy Portland had a volunteer who monitored the Justice Center overnight to watch for preparations for a raid. Once the main Occupy Portland encampment heard police were gearing up for a raid, demonstrators tried to encourage others to, "keep it verbal and keep it peaceful."

He called the action “a gross overuse of police force.”

“It’s disgusting that cops can dress in riot gear and hold sticks and threaten us,” he said.

The other two camps, at Chapman and Lownsdale squares remained quiet about 6 a.m. Said King: “We’re not taking any action at those two parks – the suburbs.”